Movie review: ‘Sicario’ follow up traffics in mediocrity

Dana Barbuto More Content Now

Thursday

Jun 28, 2018 at 8:00 AM

Drug trafficking is so 20 years ago. Mexican cartels have a new product to move: Human lives. That’s the central focus of “Sicario: Day of the Soldado,” the follow up to the vastly superior 2015 original starring Emily Blunt and directed by “Arrival’s” Denis Villeneuve. Their absence, along with that of Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins, leaves this follow-up sorely lacking.

This despite the return of writer Taylor Sheridan, an Oscar nominee for his “Hell or High Water” script. His trafficking tale traffics in mediocrity, telling a convoluted story about a federal agent (Josh Brolin) and a hitman (Benicio del Toro) tasked with kidnapping the daughter (Isabela Moner, terrific) of a kingpin in an attempt to spark a war between rival cartels. Why? Because that will help stop the transportation of drugs, illegal immigrants and terrorists across the Mexican border. For sure, you can’t get more topical, especially given the daily headlines about President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance border policies.

“Soldado” (Spanish for “soldier”) is directed by Stefano Sollima, the Italian best known for “Suburra.” He and Sheridan don’t shy away from tackling difficult subjects with viciousness and violence. It’s not easy to watch desperate families seeking a better life being treated like dirty animals, or worse. It’s a yarn right in Sheridan’s wheelhouse, having spun gold before out of tales championing the disenfranchised, including last year’s “Wind River.”

“Soldado” feels like a filler movie, something to hold the space until the next installment comes along with more major players, like Blunt and the then-unknown Daniel Kaluuya, back in the fold. “Soldado” only retains Brolin and del Toro from the original. Does that even qualify as sequel? It feels more like a spinoff, because the story stands on its own, albeit a by-the-numbers Mexican cartel drama brimming with guns, gore and guys. Like others of its ilk, “Soldado,” presents a rather unflattering stance toward Mexico, depicting a government comfortably in bed with the cartels. The climax is so ridiculous you could hear exasperated sighs in the theater — and there were only three of us at the screening.

Del Toro and Brolin do their best to make it watchable, but at this point in their careers they can phone in these rugged-dude roles. Their (too few) scenes together are some of the film’s best. Del Toro reprises his part as the mysterious assassin Alejandro and Brolin is back as tough-guy CIA operative Matt Graver. When their top-secret mission goes awry, Alejandro is ordered to kill the kidnapped girl, just like the cartels did to his daughter. Instead, the situation becomes personal and Alejandro decides to go rogue to protect the girl, and thus provides the film its moral center. Isabela’s fate, naturally, causes cross-border complications and tension between Alejandro and Matt. It’s a lot of fire and fury, signifying nothing really, except another movie, which is dutifully set up in the end. It’s rumored that Blunt will be back for the third installment. Hurrah, to that, because other than Catherine Keener’s wasted role as the CIA deputy director, the only female character in the film is the fantastic Moner, who will play the title character in the upcoming live-action “Dora the Explorer.” She squares off nicely with del Toro and the two develop believable father-daughter-like chemistry. Even more interesting is a subplot involving 14-year-old Miguel (Elijah Rodriguez) and how he breaks bad into the cartel life, seduced to the dark side by older cousin Hector (David Castaneda). This is supposed to be the story strand rich in emotion that interconnects with the main narrative — except it feels awfully contrived and shoehorned.

Instead of feeling breathtakingly real as they did in the original, none of the supporting characters are richly drawn. They are pretty much one-dimensional; be they another government official (Matthew Modine as the U.S. Secretary of Defense), mercenary (Steve Forsing) or cartel thug (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). “Sicario” translates to hit man, but this half-hearted sequel mostly misses the mark.

— Dana Barbuto may be reached at dbarbuto@patriotledger.com or follow her on Twitter @dbarbuto_Ledger.